I just started running my blog feed through FeedBurner so I can track statistics. Blogger is supposed to redirect my traffic through FeedBurner automatically, but please resubscribe to this feed if you have any trouble. Thanks!
Since I'm on the subject, I should mention that setting up my feed in FeedBurner was quite easy. All I had to do was plug in my blog URL, create an account, and make a few clicks, and now I can track number of subscribers, number of hits, and some other feed information. FeedBurner also provides several options for a "chicklet" (or widget) to place on my blog for users to subscribe. It's nice when something is so easy!
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Outreach Ideas: Putting the Library in the Path of Its Users
I posted this message to the PUBLIB-L list not too long ago and decided to go ahead and add it here as well. My message was in response to a poster discussing his library's recent community survey and their findings from that survey.
==============
My response:
I had a random - though related - thought as I read Paul's email.
Paul said the community is interested in what the library is doing, but he also said that their primary means of reaching people isn't as much as they would like.
It occurred to me that it may be helpful to offer tailored information for some area business and outreach groups. For example, I was working out at my local fitness center (Curves - love it!) the other day thinking I really needed some good books with health recipes, meal plans, and other tips for planning healthy meals (and now would be a good time for it - gotta catch people before they give up on that New Year's resolution!). If my Curves trainer could have handed me a list of health/fitness related items at my local library or a flier promoting library services that would help me find health/fitness resources, I would be quite likely to go check them out.
Now, I know this won't work for most businesses and organizations. I know this wouldn't work in some communities. I know some businesses wouldn't be willing to keep a list of handouts/fliers.
But, what about local daycare centers? Maybe a promotional flier or a quarterly list of new resources to let parents know they can find parenting books, children's books, etc. would be welcome.
Maybe the local gardening club would like to know about the gardening resources at the library.
Or, if the library has access to an automotive repair database or repair manuals, maybe the local mechanics would like to know that.
Would a local travel agency be willing to let their customers know the library has travel guides available?
Maybe religious organizations in the area would appreciate finding out about any religious fiction or nonfiction in the library.
If there are community centers in your area that serve persons with disabilities or senior adults, it may help if they know the library has large print books, or Braille books, or books on CD, or that the library offers certain services for those groups.
OK, I'll stop rambling now. The ideas just started flowing, and I started typing. It just seems this could be an opportunity to reach users at their point of need. It is also a way to put library resources in their daily path. Their daily path may not be to the library (or they may not even know the library can help them with that particular thing). But, if we put something in their path to show how we can help them, maybe they'll try it out.
So, is anyone doing this type of outreach? How do you do it? Is it successful? Do people appreciate it?
===============
You can see the thread here at the PUBLIB Archives
==============
My response:
I had a random - though related - thought as I read Paul's email.
Paul said the community is interested in what the library is doing, but he also said that their primary means of reaching people isn't as much as they would like.
It occurred to me that it may be helpful to offer tailored information for some area business and outreach groups. For example, I was working out at my local fitness center (Curves - love it!) the other day thinking I really needed some good books with health recipes, meal plans, and other tips for planning healthy meals (and now would be a good time for it - gotta catch people before they give up on that New Year's resolution!). If my Curves trainer could have handed me a list of health/fitness related items at my local library or a flier promoting library services that would help me find health/fitness resources, I would be quite likely to go check them out.
Now, I know this won't work for most businesses and organizations. I know this wouldn't work in some communities. I know some businesses wouldn't be willing to keep a list of handouts/fliers.
But, what about local daycare centers? Maybe a promotional flier or a quarterly list of new resources to let parents know they can find parenting books, children's books, etc. would be welcome.
Maybe the local gardening club would like to know about the gardening resources at the library.
Or, if the library has access to an automotive repair database or repair manuals, maybe the local mechanics would like to know that.
Would a local travel agency be willing to let their customers know the library has travel guides available?
Maybe religious organizations in the area would appreciate finding out about any religious fiction or nonfiction in the library.
If there are community centers in your area that serve persons with disabilities or senior adults, it may help if they know the library has large print books, or Braille books, or books on CD, or that the library offers certain services for those groups.
OK, I'll stop rambling now. The ideas just started flowing, and I started typing. It just seems this could be an opportunity to reach users at their point of need. It is also a way to put library resources in their daily path. Their daily path may not be to the library (or they may not even know the library can help them with that particular thing). But, if we put something in their path to show how we can help them, maybe they'll try it out.
So, is anyone doing this type of outreach? How do you do it? Is it successful? Do people appreciate it?
===============
You can see the thread here at the PUBLIB Archives
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Tech Tips: Book Art
Need a headline for a flyer? Looking for Friday fun? Amaztype is a fun service from Amazon that lets you search for a word in the title or author's name of books, music, or videos. Amaztype then spells out the name in books.
I think this could be fun for headlines on websites, flyers, etc. I'm not sure how well these images would print out, but there may be a way to use this for displays of themes or particular authors.
found via A Library By Any Other Name
Reading: Book-a-Month Challenge
Well, I decided I needed a challenge for the new year, so here we go.
Book-a-Month Challenge
A new theme is posted each month, and participants choose a book related to the theme. Ideally (and this is the most challenging part for me), we read the book and post a review on our website or blog. So, while I don't consider myself much of a review writer, I'll do my best to keep up and post reviews here over the next year.
Anyone else up for the challenge? I'd be happy to have a friend to keep me accountable.
Book-a-Month Challenge
A new theme is posted each month, and participants choose a book related to the theme. Ideally (and this is the most challenging part for me), we read the book and post a review on our website or blog. So, while I don't consider myself much of a review writer, I'll do my best to keep up and post reviews here over the next year.
Anyone else up for the challenge? I'd be happy to have a friend to keep me accountable.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Tech Tips: Kwout - Grab a Screenshot and Quote
This is a snazzy way to grab a quick screenshot and add to a website or blog. Kwout gives you the code so that you can embed the screenshot image (with a link - see image above) to a blog or website. All I had to do was add the bookmarklet to my browser, and I now I just click the bookmarklet to grab the screenshot.
Hmmm...now I have to think of some more ways to use this...
Georgia News: Gov Gab Appreciates Georgia
It's always nice for your state to be appreciated for its authors, among other things...
Curl Up With A Good Book This Winter
Curl Up With A Good Book This Winter
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Tech News: Was Your Grandmother a Hacker?
First Computer Programmers Inspire Documentary
This is just an awesome story. During World War II, the Army asked six women to program ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer (more info about ENIAC here, here, and here). According to the news article, these women were not recognized for their work until now. I can't wait to see the documentary about these women.
Research Tips: Zotero - Wow!
Peter Brantley recently sent an announcement through the DLF-ANNOUNCE list saying that Zotero and the Internet Archive have formed a partnership to encourage online storage of scholarly materials into a "Zotero Commons" and to allow for scholarly collaboration, among other things. Read more here.
Zotero has been on my "trythis" list for some time now, so I decided to go ahead and try it out. Wow! I wish I would have had something like this during college.
As I am searching in my library catalog, many of the library databases, and on the internet, I can save articles, books, and sites in Zotero by simply clicking a document icon that appears in the URL field of my browser window. Then, to view, organize, and tag my saved items, I click the "Zotero" icon that appears in my browser's status bar, which produces an extra window pane at the bottom of the browser window. Then, when I have all my articles, books, websites, etc. organized, I can export them to create a bibliography in a quite a few citation styles and file formats.
Oh, yeah, and it's FREE!
You can download Zotero here and view two brief tutorials here to see an overview and a demonstration.
I've now been pondering ways I can use this, aside from the intended purpose of scholarly research.
1) Database presentations - When I present on particular databases, I often end up bookmarking vendors sites with information, title lists, training materials, and other items related to that database, so now I could keep track of all that in one labeled Zotero folder instead of my spreadsheets and bookmarks.
2) Reading lists - Since I can bookmark items from Amazon and WorldCat.org (and some databases, too), I could start building reading lists that could easily be exported as bibliographies to share with anyone.
3) Genealogy research - You can save images and files as attachments when you save a record. I haven't tested this with some of the genealogy databases yet, but it might help to keep track of all the family records and local histories.
Hmmm...I know there could be quite a few more creative uses. If you can think of anything, please share your ideas!
Zotero has been on my "trythis" list for some time now, so I decided to go ahead and try it out. Wow! I wish I would have had something like this during college.
As I am searching in my library catalog, many of the library databases, and on the internet, I can save articles, books, and sites in Zotero by simply clicking a document icon that appears in the URL field of my browser window. Then, to view, organize, and tag my saved items, I click the "Zotero" icon that appears in my browser's status bar, which produces an extra window pane at the bottom of the browser window. Then, when I have all my articles, books, websites, etc. organized, I can export them to create a bibliography in a quite a few citation styles and file formats.
Oh, yeah, and it's FREE!
You can download Zotero here and view two brief tutorials here to see an overview and a demonstration.
I've now been pondering ways I can use this, aside from the intended purpose of scholarly research.
1) Database presentations - When I present on particular databases, I often end up bookmarking vendors sites with information, title lists, training materials, and other items related to that database, so now I could keep track of all that in one labeled Zotero folder instead of my spreadsheets and bookmarks.
2) Reading lists - Since I can bookmark items from Amazon and WorldCat.org (and some databases, too), I could start building reading lists that could easily be exported as bibliographies to share with anyone.
3) Genealogy research - You can save images and files as attachments when you save a record. I haven't tested this with some of the genealogy databases yet, but it might help to keep track of all the family records and local histories.
Hmmm...I know there could be quite a few more creative uses. If you can think of anything, please share your ideas!
Tech Tips: Simple Search - with Graphics!
I just took a look at SortFix. It's a simple, Google-style search box, but the neat part is that once you run a search you can choose more terms to add to your search or terms to exclude by dragging and dropping suggested search phrases into a series of boxes labeled "Add to Search" and "Remove." I tried a search and then tried a couple of additional searches by adding and excluding their suggested phrases, and it worked nicely.
The About Us page indicates that they also intend to help build search skills. I have to say, I think being able to move suggested phrases around to refine your search is a great tool. I would love to try this with a school project to see how kids react to it. It would be fun to run a search and then experiment with adding and excluding search phrases to see what happens. If someone out there gets a chance to do that, please let me know!
found via LISNews
The About Us page indicates that they also intend to help build search skills. I have to say, I think being able to move suggested phrases around to refine your search is a great tool. I would love to try this with a school project to see how kids react to it. It would be fun to run a search and then experiment with adding and excluding search phrases to see what happens. If someone out there gets a chance to do that, please let me know!
found via LISNews
Web Design Tips: Color Generators and Color Converters
I used to have a nice MySpace layout - one of those free ones someone else was kind enough to create. Well, it suddenly disappeared, leaving my MySpace profile looking a little sad. I tried to find another free layout - and there are plenty of places to find MySpace layouts online (yep, just Google "MySpace layouts"), but I wanted a layout with nice colors and no large image in the background. I found several plain layouts with no images, but I didn't like any of the colors.
But, I did find a MySpace layout generator that lets you pick your own image and colors. YAY, I say, but now what colors do I choose?
Oh, wait! I remember that I had previously bookmarked a color scheme generator (love those!!). I was able to pick out several shades of purple that coordinated nicely. Oh, dear...the layout generator requires RGB values, but the scheme generator only gives the hexidecimal values!
Determined not to be derailed from my project, I googled again and found a nice Hex-to-RGB converter. YAY!
So, after taking several steps and going the long way around to do it, I finally updated the layout for my MySpace profile. Of course, the next day I found this site with RGB codes and hexidecimal values. That would have been easier. Ah, well...live and learn.
But, I did find a MySpace layout generator that lets you pick your own image and colors. YAY, I say, but now what colors do I choose?
Oh, wait! I remember that I had previously bookmarked a color scheme generator (love those!!). I was able to pick out several shades of purple that coordinated nicely. Oh, dear...the layout generator requires RGB values, but the scheme generator only gives the hexidecimal values!
Determined not to be derailed from my project, I googled again and found a nice Hex-to-RGB converter. YAY!
So, after taking several steps and going the long way around to do it, I finally updated the layout for my MySpace profile. Of course, the next day I found this site with RGB codes and hexidecimal values. That would have been easier. Ah, well...live and learn.
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